Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

The price is surprisingly consistent and means it's not worth buying out of country because of the credit card charges and possible import and VAT costs. I think the same is true of the 28mm Summilux-M. Some other lenses have yet to catch up with the declining euro so, for example, the last time I checked the 90/4 M lens, it was about 10% cheaper in Germany.

Welcome to the world of Leica marketing and distribution. No discounts or price differentials across the globe. No price wars - especially on new models. Freebie extras are rarely offered. No instant heavy devaluation of your £2900 investment due to price cutting or competition from grey imports. That means that it isn't likely that you can buy cheaply in one country to sell at a profit in another. Such activity is known as arbitrage so by limiting such opportunities, sales volume in each country can be managed by leica and prices are stable.

One result of these pricing policies is that Leica equipment retains value better than Japanese models and that is good news for Leica owners.

You are going to get the best lifetime service for your Leica Q by purchasing from a UK Authorised Leica Dealer (or equivalent in your country), and you won't have to worry about paying more than the list price. (Which you can regard as the market price for a new item).

Shortly, there will be a second hand market for the Leica Q, and opportunities for slightly lower purchase prices. Guarantees and warranties usually still apply. However, UK buyers (when buying from UK Authorised dealers) also get the Leica Passport which brings additional protection for your valuable camera. It's worth having!

Don't forget to check out the Buy & Sell section of this forum. There are Leica Q offers appearing now.

BTW. Contrary to popular belief, Leica models are not cheaper in Hong Kong.

Import duties and VAT are applicable to goods brought to the UK from non EU countries.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

However I have noticed a huge difference with the Leica M - Safari version in the US $8800 but in Japan it is about $4000 more. They are not offering any discount here in Japan. the normal Leica M is also a few $1000s more here as well. Sells to well to offer any rebates I suppose. I asked the shop about that in Ginza, and they just said it was due to exchange rate. However it is too big of a difference for that to be the only reason

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

However I have noticed a huge difference with the Leica M - Safari version in the US $8800 but in Japan it is about $4000 more. They are not offering any discount here in Japan. the normal Leica M is also a few $1000s more here as well. Sells to well to offer any rebates I suppose. I asked the shop about that in Ginza, and they just said it was due to exchange rate. However it is too big of a difference for that to be the only reason

There may be import tariffs on European photographic equipment but volume imports are very small in this sector. They want to protect their manufacturing. Also, the Safari M240 has a small target market so prices can be kept high. The other reason will be that the Japanese consumer places very high value on branded European luxury goods. They don't want cheap products! Consumers in western countries are always looking for the next product release so Japanese companies take every opportunity to dump excess production to maintain sales volumes on their balance sheets. Accounting in Japan can result in very misleading figures for western analysts and often masks accounting practices outlawed elsewhere. Olympus were guilty of that a few years ago, and a UK director who turned whistleblower suffered the consequences.

Leica is exceptional in that it manufactures in Europe and sells worldwide albeit in very small relative volume. My hope is that Leica doesn't try to manufacture technical clones of Japanese cameras. They would never be able to compete to survive in the fast lane with Japanese companies.

Anything is better than nothing, but I don't envy you transferring 2 thousand raw files when the time comes. I'm sure you have a strategy! To be honest, I prefer to limit my cards to represent one days shooting, and not risk the loss of one large card. I was going to comment that the Q to IPad software is now broken due to the new IOS released yesterday, but I remember that you don't use it. I'm glad you finally got your Q. I think there are still buyers waiting.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Don't ignore the availability and usefulness of the leather Leica Q protector. It doesn't add much thickness or weight to the camera. It does add a small amount of height and it provides very good body protection without hiding any buttons. In the leather of the base flap that covers the battery flap, there is a slot to hold a spare SDcard.